Google has completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $40 (€31.3) per share in cash. The deal was originally announced on August 15, 2011.
Google said the acquisition “will enable to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open.” Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.
Sanjay Jha, who revived Motorola’s Mobile devices business and led the company through this acquisition, has stepped down as CEO, although he will continue to work with Google to help ensure a smooth transition.
Dennis Woodside, who has overseen integration planning for the acquisition and previously served as president of Google’s Americas region, has become CEO of Motorola Mobility.
Larry Page, CEO of Google, said in a statement, “I’m happy to announce the deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation. It’s a great time to be in the mobile business, and I’m confident that the team at Motorola will be creating the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come.
Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola Mobility, added: “Motorola literally invented the entire mobile industry with the first-ever commercial cell phone in 1983. Thirty years later, mobile devices are at the center of the computing revolution.
“Our aim is simple: to focus Motorola Mobility’s remarkable talent on fewer, bigger bets, and create wonderful devices that are used by people around the world.”
Dennis Woodside has hired a small number of leaders who will immediately join Motorola’s executive team, including Regina Dugan (former director of DARPA), Mark Randall (former supply chain VP at Amazon and previously at Nokia), Vanessa Wittman (former CFO of Marsh & McLennan), Scott Sullivan (former head of HR at Visa and NVIDIA), and Gary Briggs (former Google VP of Consumer Marketing).
In addition to these new leaders, many members of Motorola Mobility’s team will continue in their current roles: Iqbal Arshad (Product development), Marshall Brown (Chief of staff), Fei Liu (Mass market products), Dan Moloney (Home), Scott Offer (General Counsel), Mark Shockley (Sales), Mahesh Veerina (Software and enterprise) and Jim Wicks (Consumer experience design).
